Wanna make God laugh? Tell HER your plans.

I am sometimes astonished when I read some of people's "expectations" of how much weight they are GOING to lose with these surgeries. How about this? You will lose ZERO aggregate weight from this surgery.

Anything lost will be quickly regained unless all of the actual work is put in. I am working my butt off to claim every pound off of myself. I follow people whom have re-claimed their former selves, with a great amount of physical work and diligence in their diet. 

I feel slightly insulted when I see that all I had to do was have my RNY and then wait until the weight just "magically" fell away. And then watched it all "magically reappear it 18 months. What a great cycle that would have been. It would have been inevitable, had my approach been to ask beforehand how much would I benefit from this, without first understanding the huge amount of work involved.

How about this? I learned early on that I should only focus on the proper execution of the "lifestyle", rather than how many benefits I should expect to be showered upon me. I'm 180 pounds down this morning, in 7 and a half months! THIS MEANS NOTHING TO ME!!! It will only matter if I can maintain until my last day on this planet. It will only matter if I can use this to help others. 

Good luck in this journey. To those working their asses off to give me an example of how to do this, THANK YOU.

I love that you said tell HER your plans :-)

wow, 180 down! Work it!

years ago I when I did weigh****chers I'd lost about 70#. I intentionally stopped losing to see if I could maintain, and I did for about a year, when life got in the way. I'm very glad I did what I did because it taught me a valuable lesson about balancing my needs vs family needs. 

I read your journey almost every morning Peachpie. I look forward to seeing it along with several others. I love the camaraderie that is there. A lot of people draw a great amount of strength from that thread. You should all be proud of what has grown there.

And I love your username. Have a great day.

Thank you, Gary for being a good example and reminding me this is merely a tool that I have to get off my butt and actually use.

Thank you.

Great post....thank you. I love your perspective on this journey.

Thank you.

Congrats on your success.  

Thanks D-money.

Right back at you. I am inspired by the 5k plan of your's.

Gary,

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, and I mean it every time -- you are one of the smartest, and most insightful, people I know.

If we all approached our journey with the considered, contemplative, and active approach that you have, we'd be happy all the time.

And, of course, you're right -- the surgery is a tool, like a hammer or a stapler or a pair of scissors.  You will be exactly the same person the day after your surgery that you were the day before.  All of your baggage doesn't get left at the station -- you take it with you.  And only in acknowledging that baggage and figuring out what shelf to put it on and leave it there can we begin to move past our destructive behaviours.

And working with the tool -- after all, if you don't pick up the hammer and pound it on the nail your house ain't ever gonna get built -- is critical.  It's not a magic wand, it's an assistive device.

I don't get it either when people just think the magic wave of weight loss will wash over them and there will be sunshine and rainbows for ever more, world without end, amen.  

Thank you for your wisdom and insight.  It really helps.